A review by booksnbrains
A Bookshop in Berlin: The Rediscovered Memoir of One Woman's Harrowing Escape from the Nazis by Françoise Frenkel

emotional medium-paced

3.5

 3.5 stars. I stumbled upon this by accident; I honestly can't remember how! This is the republished memoir of Francoise Frenkel, a Polish Jew living and working (she owned a bookshop in Berlin, hence the title) in Germany as WWII broke out. She fled to France, where she went through numerous trials evading the Nazis and eventually securing passage to neutral Switzerland. It's different from most memoirs, as the writing focuses on events, rather than personal details. For example, the author's husband, who co-owned the bookshop and was killed in a concentration camp, is never mentioned. The author instead focuses almost exclusively on her movements, as well as both the kindness and the unkindness of her fellow man. It's an interesting perspective and narrative. Well worth the read.